Page 21 of In Your Light

Fyn felt his cheeks heat, but he pretended he wasn’t blushing at all, and instead, he waved the comment away. “Oh, it’s not like that. It’s... it’s just...”

Sawyer nodded, his lips pressed together so he didn’t smile. “Mm-hm.”

Fyn ignored him and looked at Ciaran. “Please don’t go to see him. He’s asked for solitude, as did Cern, and I promised them both.”

“It’s fine,” Ciaran said. “We won’t go anywhere near him. We gave our word, and we intend to keep it.”

Fyn sighed with relief. “Thank you.”

He really did like these guys, and although he wished he could stay from this minute on, Fyn knew he should go back home if not for anything other than to say a proper goodbye to Zaq and the youngsters, Voh and Cyd. They would miss him for sure.

Not that it would be forever. Fyn might only stay a few weeks, but the break from Pax and camp life would do him wonders.

He needed this.

And maybe Pax needed a break from Fyn as well, if Fyn was being honest, and Pax deserved honesty. Fyn respected him that much, at least.

He just had to hope that Pax would listen. He wasn’t entirely hopeful, but he had to try.

Chapter

Six

SAWYER

As Sawyer watched Fyn disappear into the trees, he could feel Ciaran’s hesitation to say what was on his mind. Which was futile because Sawyer could feel it all.

“You’re worried about him,” Ciaran murmured.

“I am.” He looked at him then, at his handsome face and imploring copper eyes. “He’s scared to go home. All because he took food and supplies to a man who had none. I’m sorry, but how in the world is that wrong?”

Ciaran nodded. “I know. But we can’t interfere. Perhaps the issue isn’t that he took food, but rather that he broke a rule.”

Before Sawyer could argue that there should never be a rule against giving a person in need food—because, oh boy, was he about to—Ciaran cupped Sawyer’s jaw.

“I know, love. I know,” he murmured. “It’s not right. Not to us, at least. But they aren’t us, and the rules Fyn is bound by are not our rules. It’s not something we can interfere in. We have a treaty that stipulates that specifically.”

Sawyer sighed. He knew this. He knew it’d be like the faun trying to impart their rules and beliefs on the consortium.

But still... he worried.

“Was it wrong that I offered him a place to stay if he gets kicked out?” Sawyer asked. “Does that breach the treaty?”

Ciaran made a face. “To be honest, I’m not sure. It’s never happened before, but I would think that if he’s been kicked out of the herd, the treaty no longer applies to him? He’d be free to go wherever he wants. Whether Pax sees it that way, I don’t know.” He angled Sawyer’s face up so he could kiss him softly, his eyes warm. “I love that you asked him, though. You have a good heart, Sawyer.”

“Yes, my one, very human heart.” He rolled his eyes at himself. “And we absolutely shouldn’t take the mystery man at the hut some food or anything, right?”

Ciaran narrowed his eyes. “No, we absolutely should not. I just promised Fyn.”

Sawyer sighed. “I wonder who he is. He’s a friend of Cern’s, so...” He shrugged. “Another old god, perhaps? I mean what kind of old friends does Cern have?”

Ciaran nodded. “Mm. And if he is an old god, I have to wonder what on earth he needs to heal from.”

HADEOM

The river never stopped whispering, a familiar voice that murmured beside the hut, slipping over smooth stones with a patience Hadeom could neither imitate nor understand. Water remembered only how to move forward. It did not cling to the shape of the mountain or the clouds it had once been part of.

He envied it.